Mark S. Schlissel, M.D., Ph.D.
President of the University of Michigan

8:55 a.m. | Introduction of the Mary Sue and Kenneth Coleman Life Sciences Lecturer
Alan R. Saltiel, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Diabetes and Metabolic Health, and Professor, University of California, San Diego School of Medicine; Director, Life Sciences Institute 2002-2015

Abstract:
She’ll be describing the technologies and datasets her team uses to study human disease and develop new and improved treatments for their clients. She’ll cover the applications of traditional transcriptional profiling and sequence analysis as well as datasets and tools developed specifically for therapeutics development including CMap, Project Achilles, PRISM, functional CRISPR screening and others. She’ll also touch on topics like biomarker development, patient selection/stratification and gene therapy development. Along the way, she’ll describe what it’s like to work as a consultant, and how it differs from academic work or direct employment in the pharmaceutical industry.

ABSTRACT: With the first drugs approved, oligonucleotides are rising to become a new, major class of therapeutic modalities on par with small molecules and biologics.
RNAi enables simple and specific modulation of gene expression when the chemical architecture supporting efficient delivery in vivo is defined. Currently, in liver, a single subcutaneous administration supports a year of clinical efficacy, changing our vision of how medicine will be practiced in the future.
The unprecedented duration of effect relies on oligonucleotide endocytosis and entrapment within endosomal/lysosomal compartments. These naturally formed, intracellular deposits provide a continuous release of compounds for RISC loading and productive silencing, supporting multi-month efficacy. Of course, this approach is dependent on extensive and complex chemical stabilization that ensures the survival of the oligonucleotides in highly aggressive biological environments.
In the context of fully stabilized compounds, we have used diverse chemical engineering to define the rules driving oligonucleotide distribution, efficacy, and toxicity. At this point, efficient modulation of gene expression in multiple extrahepatic tissues is possible (muscle, heart, fat, placenta, etc). One of our engineering efforts resulted in the identification of a di-branched chemical scaffold that enables potent and durable gene silencing in the brain and spinal cord. Using huntingtin – the causative gene in Huntington disease – as a model, we demonstrate that CNS-active RNAi induces potent protein silencing (~ 90%) in all brain regions tested in both rodents and non-human primates. Silencing persists for at least six months, with the degree of gene modulation correlating to the level of the guide strand tissue accumulation.
Demonstration of extrahepatic activity, in particular the development of a CNS-active RNAi scaffold, is opening other tissues and the brain for RNAi-based modulation of gene expression and establishing a path toward the development of new cures for genetically-defined neurodegenerative disorders.

Three (3) U-M experts will lead a Panel Discussion on Community-Based Participatory Research, including: Neeraja Aravamudan, PhD (Assoc. Director, Teaching & Research, Ginsberg Center); Barbara Israel, DrPH (Director, Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center); Erica E. Marsh, MD (Director of Community Engagement, MI Institute for Clinical & Health Research). Discussants will share their experiences with creating equitable partnerships between community members and academic researchers, and touch on some of the challenges. There will be time for Q&A too. Please join us for a stimulating discussion, and feel free to bring your lunch.

Abstract: Dr. Haendel’s vision is to weave together healthcare systems, basic science research, and patient generated data through development of data integration technologies and innovative data capture strategies. The Monarch Initiative is an international consortium dedicated to integrating human and organismal genotype-phenotype data and the development of deep phenotyping techniques. This talk will focus on the use of ontologies to support knowledge and data integration across disciplinary boundaries. Strategies for how to reconcile different terminologies and examples of harmonized semantic structures for anatomy, phenotype, and disease will be discussed. Finally, we will discuss the use of these ontological resources to populate graph structures and their use to aid mechanism discovery and rare disease diagnosis.

Abstract: The field of epigenetic silencing is replete with labs studying how transcriptional silencing is epigenetically maintained, or in some cases re-targeted, across cell divisions and generations. On the other hand, the initiation of that silencing in the first place, especially for DNA that is “new” to the genome, is not well understood. Although the propagation of epigenetic silencing is based on the chromatin level, our data in the powerful model plant Arabidopsis demonstrates that de novo initiation of transposable element and transgene silencing is based on RNA, and utilizes a host of small RNA classes that function specifically in the initiation of silencing to guide the first round of DNA methylation. I plan to present my ongoing work on the molecular mechanisms of silencing initiation, focusing on the key RNA-dependent processes necessary to initiate epigenetic silencing.

Dr. Sampson will discuss three examples of capacity-building to build and translate evidence, including:
1) a youth environmental health academy in Dearborn, MI;
2) a health impact assessment for the Gordie Howe International Bridge at the Detroit-Windsor border;
3) her work with APHA to convene environmental health and justice leaders—all to advance evidence-based policies that address environmental health inequities.

Natalie Sampson is an Assistant Professor of Public Health at UM-Dearborn, where she teaches courses in environmental health, health promotion, and community organizing. Grounded primarily in Southeast Michigan, she studies transportation and land use planning, green stormwater infrastructure, vacant land reuse, and climate change planning efforts, particularly their implications for health. She applies participatory research approaches with diverse partners using a broad methodological toolkit, including photovoice, concept mapping, and health impact assessment. In 2017, Sampson received the American Public Health Association (APHA)’s Rebecca Head Award, which recognizes “an outstanding emerging leader from the environmental field working at the nexus of science, policy, and environmental justice.”

Here is your chance to hear about what life is like for several medical school students and residents. Learn about each of their paths to medicine, experiences in medical school, and things they wished they had known in college. You can also submit your own questions ahead of time using the following link: http://tiny.cc/med-student-panel.

Abstract: Natural and engineered systems that consist of populations of isolated or interacting dynamical components exhibit levels of complexity that are beyond human comprehension. These complex systems often require an appropriate excitation, an optimal hierarchical organization, or a periodic dynamical structure, such as synchrony, to function as desired or operate optimally. In many application domains, e.g., neurostimulation in brain medicine and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging in quantum control, control and observation can only be implemented at the population level, through broadcasting a single input signal to all the systems in the population and through collecting aggregated system-level measurements of the population, respectively. These limitations give rise to challenging problems and new control paradigms involving underactuated manipulation of dynamic ensembles. This talk will address theoretical and computational challenges for targeted coordination of both isolated and networked ensemble systems arising in diverse areas at different scales. Both model-based and data-driven approaches for learning, decoding, control, and computation of dynamic structures and patterns in ensemble systems will be presented. Practical control designs, including synchronization waveforms for pattern formation in complex networks and optimal pulses in quantum control, will be illustrated along with their experimental realizations. Lastly, future directions and opportunities in Systems and Controls will be discussed.

Learn about 140 programs in over 50 countries, ask about U-M faculty-led programs, and figure out which program can help satisfy your major/minor requirements. CGIS has programs ranging from 3 weeks to an academic year! Meet with CGIS advisors, staff from the Office of Financial Aid and the LSA Scholarship Office, CGIS
Alumni, and other on-campus offices who can help you select a program that works best for you.

Abstract:
Despite substantial advancement in the automatic tracing of brain cells' 3D morphology in recent years, it is challenging to apply existing algorithms to very large image datasets containing billions or more voxels, especially for applications such as morphometry of single neurons at the whole-brain scale. We have developed a new platform combining several newly developed technologies including Vaa3D, TeraFly, UltraTracer, and TeraVR (Nature, 2019), to attempt this challenge. Particularly, we have used TeraFly to invoke Vaa3D to quickly visualize the whole mouse brain image volume and manage the thousands of billions of voxels in each of the brain volume. We then used UltraTracer to wrap several efficient base tracers to trace such massive data volumes. Finally, we combined virtual reality and machine learning into a tool called TeraVR for efficient proofreading and editing of such reconstructed neuron morphology. We are further improving the integration of these tools for more scalable and accurate single neuron morphometry.

Speaker:
Hanchuan Peng is the director of the SEU-ALLEN Joint Center and director of advanced computing at the Allen Institute for Brain Science. His lab develops revolutionary technologies to generate, manage, visualize, analyze and understand massive-scale structure and function data related to brains. Peng also led the Big Image Mining team at Janelia, HHMI. Peng is a highly cited inventor of a number of new algorithms and software/hardware systems, including Vaa3D - a widely adopted high-performance platform for very large multi-dimensional images, BrainAligner, SmartScope, mRMR, etc. He built and co-worked the first digital maps for several widely used model systems at single cell/neurite resolution, and led the “BigNeuron” initiative. Peng was inducted into AIMBE in 2019, is a co-recipient of USA National Academy of Sciences’ Cozzarelli Prize (2013), and a recipient of the DIADEM award (2010). His work has been featured in Nature, Science, NPR, and NBC, among others.

The human heart is a complex electromechanical pump, translating electrophysiological stimulation into tissue contraction and the ejection of blood from its chambers to drive cardiovascular blood flow. Despite being incredibly adaptable and robust, the human heart can experience a myriad of maladies leading to disruption and dysfunction. Core to cardiac physiology, and pathophysiology, is the efficient interaction between solid tissue and blood, translating mechanical work into blood flow. Understanding this interaction, principles of fluid mechanics, turbulence and fluid-structure interaction provide a core foundation. From recent work on image-based estimation of pressure loss, to analytic solutions and computational methods for fluid-structure interaction, to multigrid-in-time, this talk will explore some of the mathematical techniques useful for evaluating the behavior of blood and its impact on the heart.

The 5th annual PURPLE RUN will be held on Saturday, OCTOBER 12th, 2019 at the Duderstadt Center (North Campus) - where well be running domestic violence out of town. The 5K fun run/walk is co-sponsored by UM-Police Special Victim's Unit (SVU) and Washtenaw County Prosecutors Office. The SVU helps coordinate this exciting, family friendly event with a mission to bring awareness about domestic violence to our community in addition to raising funds to support the activities and resources provided by SafeHouse Center [www.safehousecenter.org] Purple Run registration starts at 8:00am, race begins at 9:00am - early registration secures a 2019 event T-shirt and finisher medal. There will be live music by an all lawyer band, special guest speakers, police K9s/Motors/Horses, U-M Storm Trooper and much more! You can visit www.purplerunannarbor.org and/or follow the event on Facebook for more details.

The Ansari group has pioneered the development of synthetic transcription factors (SynTFs) to control desired gene regulatory networks and guide cell fate choices. In a sense, SynTFs could be viewed as chemical counterparts of the much larger CRISPR-Cas based gene regulators.

Integrating structure-guided design and chemical genomics, the Ansari group created an exciting class of molecules that can rewire epigenetic states at targeted genomic loci. SynTFs designed to reverse repressive epigenetic marks have restored expression of genes whose deficiency causes incurable neuronal diseases such as Friedreich’s ataxia, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that has no effective therapy. More broadly, SynTFs can be precision-tailored to understand and remedy a wide array of human diseases.

About the Speaker:
Aseem Z. Ansari is the R. J. Ulrich Chair of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the founder of the Khorana and Bose Programs.

Aseem began his scientific career as a summer intern in the laboratory of Obaid Siddiqi at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Bombay. That experience led him to graduate studies in Chemical Biology at Northwestern University. Aseem completed his training postdoctoral training as a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was also a resident tutor at the Winthrop House and member of the Board of Tutors in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard. The Ansari Lab works on devising synthetic gene switches that control the fate of human embryonic stem cells and correct gene regulatory networks in neurodegenerative diseases.

Abstract: CRISPR-Cas serves as an RNA-based adaptive immunity system in prokaryotes. The diverse CRISPR systems can be categorized into two major classes and multiple types therein. Type I CRISPR-Cas (or CRISPR-Cas3) belongs to Class 1 and is the most prevalent CRISPR system found in nature. It features a sequential target-searching and degradation process. First, the target-searching complex Cascade (CRISPR associated complex for antiviral defense) uses its guide RNA to find the complementary dsDNA target, and opens a special structure called R-loop at the target site. Its helicase-nuclease fusion enzyme Cas3 is then specifically recruited to the Cascade/R-loop site to processively degrade long-stretches of double-stranded DNA nearby. I will give a comprehensive explanation of CRISPR-Cas3 based interference mechanism, based on the high-resolution biochemistry and structural biology work from my lab. I will further explain CRISPR-Cas3 based genome editing applications, and give perspectives on its therapeutic potential.

Talk Title: "3D genome structure as a tool to understand the impact of somatic and germline sequence variants"

Abstract: The 3-dimensional organization of DNA inside of the nucleus impacts a variety of cellular processes, including gene regulation. Furthermore, it is apparent that somatic structural variants that affect how chromatin is organized in 3D can have a major impact on gene regulation and human disease. However, such structural variants in the context of cancer genomes are abundant, and predicting the consequence of any individual somatic mutation on 3D genome structure and gene expression is challenging. In addition, we are severely limited with regard to tools that can be used to study 3D folding of the genome in vivo in actual human tumor or tissue samples. Our lab has developed several approaches to address these challenges. We have taken a pan-cancer approach to identify loci in the genome that are affected by structural variants that alter 3D genome structure, and we have identified numerous loci with recurrent 3D genome altering mutations. We have also used genome engineering to create novel structural variants to better understand what types of mutations are actually capable of altering 3D genome structure and gene regulation. Finally, we have also developed novel tools to study 3D genome structure in vivo in complex tissue samples. We believe that these approaches will be critical for improving our understanding of how non-coding sequence variants can affect 3D genome structure and gene regulation, with the ultimate goal of understanding how these events affect human physiology.

Abstract: Parasitic protist Trypanosoma brucei causes African human and animal trypanosomiasis, a spectrum of diseases affecting the population and economy in sub-Saharan Africa. These digenetic hemoflagellates belong to Kinetoplastea, a taxonomic class distinguished by possession of a kinetoplast. This nucleoprotein body contains mitochondrial DNA of two kinds: ~25 maxicircles (each ~23kb) encoding ribosomal RNAs, two guide RNA (gRNAs), ribosomal proteins and subunits of respiratory complexes, and approximately 5000 of ~1kb minicircles bearing the majority of gRNA genes. Relaxed maxicircles and minicircles are interlinked and packed into a dense disc-shaped network by association with histone-like proteins. Both maxicircle and minicircle genomes are transcribed by a phage-like RNA polymerase from multiple promoters into 3′-extended precursors which undergo 3′-5′ exonucleolytic trimming. To function in mitochondrial translation, pre-mRNAs must further proceed through 3′ adenylation, and often gRNA-directed uridine insertion/deletion editing, and 3′ A/U-tailing. Ribosomal and guide RNAs are typically 3′ uridylated. Historically, the fascinating phenomenon of RNA editing has attracted major research efforts, but more recent developments provided insights into pre- and post-edited processing events and identified key players in transforming primary precursors into functional RNAs and regulating their turnover. I will present a forward-looking model that integrates known modalities of mitochondrial RNA metabolism.

ABSTRACT:
Public Health Scientists use prediction models to downscale (i.e., interpolate) air pollution exposure where monitoring data is insufficient. This exercise aims to obtain estimates at fine resolutions, so that exposure data may reliably be related to health outcomes. In this setting, substantial research efforts have been dedicated to the development of statistical models capable of integrating heterogenous information to obtain accurate prediction: statistical downscaling models, land use regression, as well as machine learning strategies. However, when presented with the tasks of choosing between models, or averaging models, we find that our understanding of model performance in the absence of independent statistical replications remains insufficient. This lecture is motivated by several studies of air pollution (PM 2.5 and ground-level ozone) during wildfires. We review the basis for cross validation as a strategy for the estimation of the expected prediction error. As these performance measure play a crucial role in model selection and averaging we present a formal characterization of the estimands targeted by different data subsetting strategies, and explore their performance in engineered data settings. A final analysis and a warning about preference inversion is presented in relation to the a 2008 wildfire event in Northern California.

BIO:
Dr. Telesca is Associate Professor of Biostatistics at the University of California Los Angeles. He received a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Washington and spent two years at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center as a postdoctoral fellow. His research interests include Bayesian methods in multivariate statistics, functional data analysis, statistical methods in bio- and nano-informatics. Dr. Telesca is a member of the California NanoSystems Institute, the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and principal data scientist at Lucid Circuit Inc.

Join faculty, graduate students, and fellow students for pizza and conversation! This will be an informal meeting for students to learn more about their major, research, and career opportunities in the field. Bring your questions for faculty and talk to other interested students!
Register using the web link below.

Abstract: Aging is linked to deficiencies in immune responses and increased systemic inflammation. To unravel regulatory programs behind these changes, we profiled peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from young and old individuals (n=77) using ATAC-seq and RNA-seq technologies and analyzed these data via systems immunology tools. First, we described an epigenomic signature of immune system aging, with simultaneous systematic chromatin closing at promoters and enhancers associated with T cell signaling. This signature was primarily borne by memory CD8+ T cells, which exhibited an aging-related loss in IL7R activity and IL7 responsiveness. More recently to uncover the impact of sex on immune system aging, we studied PBMCs from 194 healthy adults (100 women, 94 men) ranging from 22-93 years old using ATAC-seq, RNA-seq, and flow cytometry technologies. These data revealed a shared epigenomic signature of aging between sexes composed of declines in naïve T cell functions and increases in monocyte and cytotoxic cell functions. Despite similarities, these changes were greater in magnitude in men. Additionally, we uncovered male-specific decreases in expression/accessibility of B-cell associated loci. Trajectory analyses revealed that age-related epigenomic changes were more abrupt at two timepoints in the human lifespan. The first timepoint was similar between sexes in terms of timing (early forties) and magnitude. In contrast, the latter timepoint was earlier (~5 years) and more pronounced in men (mid-sixties versus late-sixties). Unexpectedly, differences between men and women PBMCs increased with aging, with men having higher monocyte and pro-inflammatory activity and lower B/T cell activity compared to women after 65 years of age. Our study uncovered which immune cell functions and molecules are differentially affected with age between sexes, including the differences in timing and magnitude of changes, which is an important step towards precision medicine in older adults.

Join us for an information session about the Science, Technology, and Public Policy (STPP) Graduate Certificate!

Wednesday, October 23rd, 4:00pm-5:00pm
5240 Weill Hall
There will be SNACKS!

Do you want to learn how science and technology policy is made? Are you interested in the social and ethical implications of developments like gene editing and autonomous vehicles? Are you concerned about the increased politicization of science and research funding?

In the STPP graduate certificate program, graduate students from across the University analyze the role of science and technology in the policymaking process, gain experience writing for policymakers, and explore the political and policy landscape of areas such as biotechnology, information technology, energy, and others. Graduates of the STPP certificate have gone on to a range of policy-engaged scientific roles in government, NGOs, and academia.

More information about the program is available at: http://stpp.fordschool.umich.edu/graduate-certificate/

The Bonderman Fellowship offers 4 graduating University of Michigan LSA (Literature, Science and the Arts) seniors $20,000 to travel the world. They must travel to at least 6 countries in 2 regions over the course of 8 months and are expected to immerse themselves in independent and enriching explorations.

Come to a Bonderman information session to learn more about the fellowship and how to apply! Pizza will be provided!

Luis Batista, PhD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Developmental Biology, Washington University in St. Louis

Abstract: The overarching goal of the Batista lab is to understand the regulation and function of telomerase in tissue fitness, disease, and cancer. The Batista laboratory uses genome-wide methods to uncover alterations that drive cellular failure upon critical telomerase dysfunction, using the targeted differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to tissues of clinical relevance as a primary model. We combine in vitro biochemical and mechanistic studies with our ability to generate and differentiate pluripotent cells towards different fates to better understand the importance of correct ribonucleoprotein assembly and function in tissue fitness and to determine the events that lead from impaired RNA-protein assembly to disease in humans.

In the midst of Red and Black, one of Stendhal's characters makes a declaration, which can serve as an emblem of the 19th century: “All prudence must be renounced! This century was born to overwhelm everything! We are marching into chaos.” Dialogues in Contemporary Thought VII | On the 19th Century, endeavors to contribute to our understanding of this era, through the work of Profs. Tilottama Rajan and Lucy Hartley, who will present two papers: “Elements of Life: Organizing the Work of John Hunter,” and “Poverty, Progress, and Practicable Socialism: Henrietta Barnett, 1851-1936,” respectively.
For more information, please visit our website: https://ccctworkshop.wordpress.com/ ; or email us at: srdjan@umich.edu

This annual lectureship features a pre-eminent neuroscientist and honors Bernard W. Agranoff, a leader in biochemistry and an internationally recognized expert in the neurosciences. Dr. Agranoff is a graduate of the University of Michigan who returned as a faculty member in 1960. He served as the Director of Mental Health Research Institute (now known as the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute) from 1985 to 1995 and was the Neuroscience Laboratory Building Director from 1983-2002. His scientific career helped establish that long-term memory formation requires de novo protein synthesis and also enhanced our understanding of the processes involved in nerve regeneration. The Lectureship builds upon a career dedicated to promoting excellence in research, education, and mental health care and is an enduring legacy to those seeking to improve our understanding of the brain and apply that knowledge to help those with brain disorders.

Dr. Richard Huganir is the 2019 Agranoff Lecturer. Dr. Huganir is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Neuroscience and Psychological and Brain Sciences and Director of the Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. His career has focused on synapses in the brain. His research has shown that the regulation of receptor function is a major mechanism for the regulation of neuronal excitability and connectivity in the brain and is critical for many higher brain processes, including learning and memory, and is a major determinant of behavior. Moreover, dysregulation of these mechanisms underlies many neurological and psychiatric diseases including Alzheimer’s, ALS, schizophrenia, autism, intellectual disability, PTSD as well as in chronic pain and drug addiction. Dr. Huganir is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

The Bonderman Fellowship offers 4 graduating University of Michigan LSA (Literature, Science and the Arts) seniors $20,000 to travel the world. They must travel to at least 6 countries in 2 regions over the course of 8 months and are expected to immerse themselves in independent and enriching explorations.

Come to a Bonderman information session to learn more about the fellowship and how to apply! Pizza will be provided!

Abstract: Although central architectures drive robust oscillations, biological clock networks containing the same core vary drastically in their potential to oscillate. What peripheral structures contribute to the variation of oscillation behaviors remains elusive. We computationally generated an atlas of oscillators and found that, while certain core topologies are essential for robust oscillations, local structures substantially modulate the degree of robustness. Strikingly, two key local structures, incoherent inputs and coherent inputs, can modify a core topology to promote and attenuate its robustness, additively. These findings underscore the importance of local modifications besides robust cores, which explain why auxiliary structures not required for oscillation are evolutionarily conserved. We further apply this computational framework to search for structures underlying tunability, another crucial property shared by many biological timing systems to adapt their frequencies to environmental changes.

Experimentally, we developed an artificial cell system to reconstitute mitotic oscillatory processes in water-in-oil microemulsions. With a multi-inlet pressure-driven microfluidic setup, these artificial cells are flexibly adjustable in sizes, periods, various molecular and drug concentrations, energy, and subcellular compartments. Using long-term time-lapse fluorescence microscopy, this system enables high-throughput, single-cell analysis of clock dynamics, functions, and stochasticity, key to elucidating the topology-function relation of biological clocks.

We also investigate how multiple clocks coordinate via biochemical and mechanical signals in the essential developmental processes of early zebrafish embryos (e.g., mitotic wave propagation, synchronous embryo cleavages, and somitogenesis). To pin down the physical mechanisms that give rise to these complex collective phenomena, we integrate mathematical modeling, live embryo and explant imaging, nanofabrication, micro-contact printing, and systems and synthetic biology approaches.

Are you interested in attending graduate school? Becoming a professor? Running a research lab and teaching? Pursuing a MS or PhD-based career?

Join us for a Q&A panel with Professors Catherine Collins, Monica Dus, Jayakrishnan (JK) Nandakumar, Anthony Vechiarelli, who are faculty members in the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology.

Abstract: With the expanding generation of large-scale biological datasets, there has been an ever-greater concern in understanding the reproducibility of discoveries and findings in a statistically reliable manner. We review several concepts in reproducibility and describe how one can adopt a multiple testing perspective on the problem. This leads to an intuitive procedure for assessing reproducibility. We demonstrate application of the methodology using RNA-sequencing data as well as metabolomics datasets. We will also outline some further problems in the field.

This is joint work with Daisy Philtron, Yafei Lyu and Qunhua Li (Penn State) and Tusharkanti Ghosh, Weiming Zhang and Katerina Kechris (University of Colorado).

The lipid bilayer that encases human cells has evolved to keep the outside out, and the inside in. This barrier is not, however, impenetrable. Some small molecules, including drugs, can burrow through and manifest therapeutic activities. Others can be “cloaked” to endow membrane permeability, and then uncloaked inside cells. We have learned how to beneficially cloak proteins, which are typically 100-fold larger than small-molecule drugs. Specifically, the conversion of protein carboxyl groups into esters enables the protein to traverse the lipid bilayer. The nascent esters are substrates for endogenous enzymes that regenerate native proteins within cells. The ability to deliver native proteins directly into cells opens a new frontier for medicine.

Dr. Wasilevich will address the public health response efforts and how the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has, and will continue to, investigate PFAS exposures and outcomes around the state.

Join us on Tuesday, November 19, at 6 p.m., for an exciting Dissonance event: Protecting Patient Privacy in Big Data. This panel discussion will take place in the Vandenberg Room, on the second floor of the Michigan League on the UM-Ann Arbor campus. There is no charge for this event and no need to register.

Electronic health records, connected medical devices, health tracking applications, and more have led to a tidal wave of medical data. How this data is being used to transform patient care, improve care quality and decrease healthcare costs, however, is not always evident. Michigan Medicine physicians and legal scholars will explore how medical care will change as digital health platforms evolve, the legal ramifications we might have to navigate, and the privacy and ethical issues that are unfolding today.

Abstract: GWAS of neuropsychiatric diseases have identified many loci, however, causal variants often remain unknown. We performed ATAC-seq in human iPSC-derived neurons, and identified thousands of variants affecting chromatin accessibility. Such variants are highly enriched with risk variants of a range of brain disorders. We computationally fine-mapped causal variants and experimentally tested their activities using CRISPRi followed by single cell RNA-seq. Our work provides a framework for prioritizing noncoding disease variants.

The second part of my talk will be focused on genetics of N6-methyladenosine (m6A), a common form of mRNA modification. m6A plays an important role in regulating various aspects of mRNA metabolism in eukaryotes. However, little is known about how DNA sequence variations may affect the m6A modification and the role of m6A in common diseases. We mapped genetic variants associated with m6A levels in 60 Yoruba lymphoblast cell lines. By leveraging these variants, our analysis provides novel insights of mechanisms regulating m6A installation, and downstream effects of m6A on other molecular traits such as translation rate. Integrated analysis with GWAS data reveals m6A variation as an important mechanism linking genetic variations to complex diseases.

The Bonderman Fellowship offers 4 graduating University of Michigan LSA (Literature, Science and the Arts) seniors $20,000 to travel the world. They must travel to at least 6 countries in 2 regions over the course of 8 months and are expected to immerse themselves in independent and enriching explorations.

Come to a Bonderman information session to learn more about the fellowship and how to apply! Pizza will be provided!

Please join us for the latest installment in the ELPP Lecture Series. Professor Alexandra Klass from the University of Minnesota Law School will discuss recent developments in U.S. energy law, policy, economics, and technology. Although President Trump and his cabinet Secretaries, particularly at the Interior Department, Energy Department, and Environmental Protection Agency, have announced dramatic policy shifts away from those pursued during the Obama Administration, the new administration’s ability to accomplish its goals is in some instances helped and in other instances hindered by existing federal and state laws as well as private sector technology and economic trends. Topics will include the shift away from the use of coal and toward natural gas and renewable energy in the electricity sector; the use of federal public lands to develop oil, natural gas, coal, wind, and solar energy; developments in technology and law associated with hydraulic facturing ("fracking"); and controversies over new oil and gas pipelines such as the Dakota Access and Keystone XL Pipelines.

This event is free and open to the public.

Professor Alexandra B. Klass teaches and writes in the areas of energy law, environmental law, natural resources law, tort law, and property law. Her recent scholarly work, published in many of the nation’s leading law journals, addresses regulatory challenges to integrating more renewable energy into the nation’s electric grid, transportation electrification, oil and gas transportation infrastructure, and the use of eminent domain for electric transmission lines and pipelines. She is a co-author of Energy Law: Concepts and Insights Series (Foundation Press 2017), Energy Law and Policy (West Academic Publishing 2d ed. 2018), Natural Resources Law: A Place-Based Book of Problems and Cases (Wolters Kluwer, 4th ed., 2018), and The Practice and Policy of Environmental Law (Foundation Press, 4th ed. 2017). Professor Klass was named the Stanley V. Kinyon Teacher of the Year for 2009-2010, and she served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs from 2010-2012. She was a Visiting Professor of Law at Harvard Law School in 2015. She is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and in prior years was the Julius E. Davis Professor of Law and the Solly Robins Distinguished Research Fellow.

Prior to her teaching career, Professor Klass was a partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP in Minneapolis, where she specialized in environmental law, natural resources, and land use matters. During her years in private practice from 1993-2004, she handled cases in federal and state trial and appellate courts involving contaminated property, wetlands, environmental review, mining, environmental rights, zoning, eminent domain, and environmental torts. She clerked for the Honorable Barbara B. Crabb, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin from 1992-1993.

Erin Allmann Updyke and Erin Welsh, hosts and creators of "This Podcast Will Kill You," will discuss their experiences with creating a popular science podcast and then delve into a locally relevant disease in a mini-episode format.

Abstract: The nonsense-mediated mRNA decay pathway in eukaryotes serves as an RNA quality control system to protect cells from persistent expression of C-terminally truncated polypeptides as a consequence of premature translation termination at nonsense codons. How the cell defines a translation termination event as premature and, subsequently, how this information is communicated to the decay machinery so as to accelerate the degradation of the mRNA remain unclear. We have previously shown that mutations within UPF1 - a member of the SF1 helicase superfamily and a core component of the NMD machinery - which inactivate its ATPase activity give rise to RNA decay intermediates that accumulate due to stalling of ribosomes at or near the premature termination codon. These findings revealed a key functional interaction between the translation apparatus and NMD machinery, and signify that ATP hydrolysis by UPF1 targets the ribosome to facilitate peptide hydrolysis and/or ribosome recycling during translation termination.
My lab’s ongoing efforts directed at dissecting the how UPF1 impacts premature translation termination will be presented.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

Abstract: For many genes, steady-state messenger (m)RNA levels provide an inaccurate reflection of the extent to which they are translated into proteins. This seminar will focus on post-transcriptional mechanisms that affect the “quality” and “quantity” of RNAs produced in a cell-type- and context-dependent manner. First, I will describe the identification of a conserved developmentally regulated alternative splicing program that supports terminal differentiation, functional competence, and postnatal maturation of hepatocytes. Second, I will show evidence that following liver injury, this developmental splicing program is transiently re-activated to rewire a critical signaling pathway that enables proper liver regeneration. Third, I will demonstrate that in severe alcoholic hepatitis, the sustained re-activation of this developmental program causes hepatocytes to shed adult functions and become more regenerative but threatens overall survival by populating the liver with functionally-immature cells.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

The Bonderman Fellowship offers 4 graduating University of Michigan LSA (Literature, Science and the Arts) seniors $20,000 to travel the world. They must travel to at least 6 countries in 2 regions over the course of 8 months and are expected to immerse themselves in independent and enriching explorations.

Come to a Bonderman information session to learn more about the fellowship and how to apply! Pizza will be provided!

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

Do you have questions about medical school admissions? Get your answers straight from the inside! U-M Medical School Admissions Director Carol Teener will demystify medical school applications, expectations, and reviews in her presentation.

Please submit your questions via the following link: https://forms.gle/49SpHo8WZLLfuUuR8 by Monday, December 2 and Director Teener will answer as many commonly-asked questions as possible in the allotted hour.

This session will take place in the University of Michigan Hospital's Ford Auditorium.
We recommend that you leave yourself extra time to find the auditorium if you have not been there before!

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

Have you ever wondered how health care professionals end up in their careers? Professional Autobiographies are excellent opportunities for students to hear directly from health care professionals in an informal setting. During these talks, students will learn about speakers' motivations for their career choices, how their interests and experiences influenced their career trajectories, and how they’ve worked to align their passion(s) with their work. These sessions provide an excellent opportunity to connect with professionals who may be able to provide valuable advice during your Michigan career.

All HSSP-sponsored Professional Autobiographies are open to the public.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

Remarkable advances in medicine and biology have been made possible with bioelectronics – devices that bridge and connect the worlds of living systems and electronics. Bioelectronics include wearable sensors for health monitoring, in vitro diagnostics, therapeutic implantable devices, and electrical stimulation for tissue engineering and regeneration. Despite their influence, bioelectronic devices are still limited by the fact that they are disparate and distinct from biology. The quality of the device-tissue interface is poor and diminishes with time; this is thought to be due to many factors including significant surgical trauma, an aggressive foreign body response, poor material compatibility with the biological milieu, as well as imprecise and distant connections between electronics and surrounding cells or tissues. Towards addressing these challenges, I will first present the use of slippery surfaces for mitigating the consequences of implanting bioelectronics into delicate tissues. I will demonstrate how liquid-infused elastomers reduce tissue deformation and tearing associated with the insertion of intracortical probes in rats. I will then present how, unlike typical electronic fabrication processes, additive manufacturing is compatible with biomaterials and cells. I will demonstrate that when “inks”, processing methods, and scaffold structure are engineered appropriately, extrusion-based 3D printing affords patterned, viable, and functional cell networks, and I will discuss how this can be exploited in future bioelectronic devices. To conclude, I will briefly present my vision to continue tackling the pressing challenges of biointegration that bioelectronics face in expanding their clinical and scientific impacts. The Rutz Lab will engineer “electronic tissues” that merge electronics and biology using additive manufacturing and biomaterials approaches.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

Abstract:
Numerous studies with varying degrees of statistical power have found correlations between the composition of the bacterial population in the human gut microbiome and disease states. But the molecules and mechanism(s) connecting a dysbiotic microbiome to a specific disease are generally unknown. In an attempt to address this gap, we undertook a series of screens to link bacterial metabolites with diseases like type 1 diabetes (T1D) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We focused on primary drivers of inflammation like TNFα (tumor necrosis factor alpha) produced by human dendritic cells. This seminar will describe our screening logic, the selection of candidate bacterial strains, the discovery of the small molecule regulators of cytokine production, their structures and biosynthesis, and inflammatory mechanism.

About the speaker:
Jon Clardy obtained his B.S. degree from Yale University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University, both in chemistry. He has served on the Chemistry Department faculties of Iowa State University and Cornell University, and he is currently the Hsien Wu & Daisy Yen Wu Professor of Biological Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology at Harvard Medical School. His research has focused on naturally occurring biologically active small molecules, their macromolecular targets, and their roles in biology and medicine. His current interests involve the molecular underpinnings of complex symbiotic systems involving both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, bacterial influences on animal and plant development, bacterial communications, and the influence of the human gut microbiome on human health and disease. He currently lectures in graduate courses and teaches a Freshman Seminar entitled Psychoactive Molecules from Babylon to Breaking Bad to Harvard undergraduates.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

The U-M Life Sciences Orchestra will kick off its 20th season of blending music, medicine and science, with a free concert at 4 p.m. at U-M’s Hill Auditorium under the baton of music director Tal Benatar.

The concert is free and open to the public, as is a pre-concert lecture at 3:15 p.m. in the lower lobby. No tickets are required, though the LSO accepts donations to support its concerts.

The performance will begin with the overture to Fidelio, the only opera written by Ludwig van Beethoven, followed by the fairy tale-inspired Mother Goose Suite by Maurice Ravel. It will conclude with Finnish composer Jean Sibelius’s First Symphony.

The program offers a wide range of orchestral colors, highlighting the musical talents of the LSO’s members, nearly all of whom are medical, health and science faculty, staff, students, retirees and alumni from across the university.

Benatar is pursuing a doctorate, and assistant conductor Nathan Bieber a master’s degree, in the renowned orchestral conducting program at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

Benatar holds the Gilbert S. Omenn, M.D. Music Director position with the LSO, made possible by a gift from its namesake, the first U-M executive vice president for medical affairs and a longtime supporter of the LSO. He is also Assistant Music Director of the Michigan Pops Orchestra, and a multi-instrument performer of classical, contemporary and popular music.

The orchestra is part of the Gifts of Art program, which brings the world of art and music to Michigan Medicine. Plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary at the LSO’s concert at 8 p.m. on Saturday, April 11 are now under way.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

The Bonderman Fellowship offers 4 graduating University of Michigan LSA (Literature, Science and the Arts) seniors $20,000 to travel the world. They must travel to at least 6 countries in 2 regions over the course of 8 months and are expected to immerse themselves in independent and enriching explorations.

Come to a Bonderman information session to learn more about the fellowship and how to apply! Pizza will be provided!

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

Abstract: Synchronization occurs all around us. It underlies how fireflies flash as one, how human heart cells beat in unison, and how superconductors conduct electricity with no resistance. Synchronization is present in the precision of the cell cycle, and we can explore how breakdown of precision leads to disease. The many unique and fundamental functions of different cell types are achieved over and over independently, through a form of synchronization involving choreography of many proteins and genes. I will share a general historic and descriptive introduction to synchrony, including the classic work of Alan Turing. I will present some new work done jointly with Cleve Moler (MathWorks) and Steve Smale (UC Berkeley), where biology has inspired us to build new mathematical techniques to explore synchrony and its breakdown.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

When student protesters occupied the Amherst College library for four days in November of 2015, the campus community was transfixed by the painful testimonials shared by marginalized students about their experiences at Amherst as individuals identifying as Black, brown, female, queer, trans, disabled, international, among others. In response to letters from a Black neuroscience major and a non-binary biochemistry and biophysics major, every STEM department wrote a letter of support, pledging to work with students to address their concerns. The following semester, Chemistry professor Sheila Jaswal collaborated with students to develop a project-based course, titled “Being Human in STEM” (HSTEM), to actively engage STEM students and departments in learning about and enhancing inclusion in STEM settings. Now in its sixth iteration, students drive the academic inquiry, investigating both the local experience and the literature on diversity in STEM. They then use that research to design tools and interventions to share with and enhance their own STEM community. In this seminar, Professor Jaswal will describe how HSTEM course projects and activities have continued the conversation started by students during the Uprising, connected STEM inclusion efforts across the Amherst campus, and produced resources such as the “Inclusive Curricular Practices” handbook, that have been used by STEM educators from high schools, colleges, universities, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Inclusive Excellence institutions. She will present evidence on the impact of the HSTEM course and practices on students, faculty and staff at Amherst, and provide examples of how a growing network of institutions, including Yale, Brown, Williams, and the University of Utah, are adapting the HSTEM model to their own STEM community needs.

Please visit website for more information on speaker: http://www.beinghumaninstem.com/sheila-jaswal.html

UROP Peer Facilitators serve as a liaison and program guide for UROP students. In this capacity, Peer Facilitators support prospective UROP student researchers by helping them find research projects, sharing information about academic and other campus resources, serving as a liaison between student researchers and faculty mentors, and planning programs for and facilitating research seminars for their peer group. Other responsibilities include giving presentations about UROP and helping with program-wide activities such as the Spring Research Symposium.

Peer Facilitators must be third or fourth year students by the fall 2020 and be in good academic standing with a GPA of 3.0 or above. Applicants should have completed one full year in UROP. (Note: Students who plan to be Resident Advisors are ineligible to be a UROP Peer Facilitator because of the time and training demands of both positions.)

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

What if your ability to succeed in your classes was determined in part before you even stepped into the classroom? What is the one quality you need to overcome adversity academically and in life? This workshop will detail the research of Dr. Carol Dweck and her groundbreaking work on the concept of mindset. Students will learn how to abandon a debilitating fixed mindset in favor of a growth mindset, leading to success in areas they once considered too difficult. The workshop will also introduce students to the research of Dr. Angela Duckworth, and how a growth mindset can lead to the development of grit, an essential characteristic to overcoming our fear of failure.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Abstract:
Liver cells can adapt and protect themselves in response to stress by activating cellular protective mechanisms such as autophagy, which is a lysosomal degradation pathway that degrades cellular organelles and/or proteins as well as lipids inside the autolysosomes. To meet the needs of autophagic degradation, it is critical to maintain sufficient numbers of lysosomes to fuse with autophagosomes that form autolysosomes. Lysosomal biogenesis is regulated by the transcription factor EB (TFEB), which is a master transcription regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy.

Studies from our lab revealed that TFEB is impaired in alcoholic hepatitis and pancreatitis as well as in acetaminophen-induced liver injury. Overexpression of TFEB protects against alcohol and drug-induced tissue damage whereas deletion of TFEB exacerbates tissue damage. Studies from our lab also demonstrated that Nrf2, a transcription factor regulating antioxidant response, promotes liver injury and liver tumorigenesis in autophagy defective livers. More recently, our work suggests that both hyper- and hypo-activation of MTOR are detrimental to the liver resulting in the development of liver tumors. Together, our studies indicate that autophagy and lysosome play critical roles in maintaining liver homeostasis. Approaches to boost autophagy and TFEB pathways, which are often impaired in chronic liver diseases, may be promising for treating and preventing liver disease including alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver diseases, drug-induced liver injury and liver tumorigenesis.

About the Speaker:
Wen-Xing Ding is a professor in the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics at The University of Kansas Medical Center. He received his Ph.D. from the National University of Singapore in 2002 and completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Pittsburgh. Ding has devoted his research career to elucidating mechanisms for regulation of cell death and the adaptive response to cellular injury in the liver. Since 2009, his laboratory has been working on the role of autophagy in alcohol- and drug-induced liver injury. They are particularly interested in how autophagy selectively removes cellular damaged/excess organelles, such as mitochondria and lipid droplets in hepatocytes. Ding has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and his work is currently supported by NIAAA and NIDDK.

In addition to research, Ding has demonstrated outstanding leadership for service. He has been a program committee member of ASIP (American Society of Investigative Pathology) and the AASLD (American Association for the Studies of Liver Disease) 2015 annual meeting. He organized several meetings and symposia for EB meeting, AASLD and GRC. He serves as an associate editor for the journal Autophagy and an editorial board member for several journals, including Hepatology, Cell and the American Journal of Pathology. He also serves as an ad hoc reviewer for NIH grants and a standing member of XNDA.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

The Bonderman Fellowship offers 4 graduating University of Michigan LSA (Literature, Science and the Arts) seniors $20,000 to travel the world. They must travel to at least 6 countries in 2 regions over the course of 8 months and are expected to immerse themselves in independent and enriching explorations.

Come to a Bonderman information session to learn more about the fellowship and how to apply! Pizza will be provided!

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Abstract: Over the past two decades, metabolomics as a technique has moved from the primary domain of analytical chemists to more widespread acceptance by biologists, clinicians and bioinformaticians alike. Metabolomics offers systems-level insights into the critical roles small molecules play in routine cellular processes and myriad disease states. However, certain unique analytical challenges remain prominent in metabolomics as compared to the other ‘omics sciences. These include the difficulty of identifying unknown features in untargeted metabolomics data, and challenges maintaining reliable quantitation within lengthy studies that may span multiple laboratories. Unlike genomics and transcriptomics data in which nearly every quantifiable feature is confidently identified as a matter of course, in typical untargeted metabolomics studies over 80% of features are frequently not mapped to a specific chemical compound. Further, although many metabolomics studies have begun to stretch over a timeframe of years, data quantitation and normalization strategies have not always kept up with the requirements for such large studies. Fortunately, both experimental and computational strategies are emerging to tackle these long-standing challenges. We will report on several techniques in development in our laboratory, ranging from chromatographic fractionation and high-sensitivity data acquisition, to computational strategies to aid in tandem mass spectrometric spectral interpretation. These developments serve to facilitate analysis for both experts and novice users, which should ultimately help improve the biological insight and impact gained from metabolomics data.

The study and learning strategies students often bring to college are often insufficient to help them succeed at the university level. Particularly in challenging STEM courses, students can't simply memorize or cram their way to a good grade. This workshop will focus on the popular learning strategies to avoid, as well as the top three strategies you don't know but are shown by research to be the most effective for long-term learning.

Dr. Waljee’s research focuses on tailoring treatment to the specifics of the individual (precision care) with gastrointestinal and liver diseases. He uses artificial intelligence methods such as machine learning and deep learning to improve decision-making for tailored and individualized care to facilitate the delivery of efficient, effective and equitable care, especially in costly diseases and in limited resource settings.
Discussant 1: Karandeep Singh, MD, MMSc, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Department of Learning Health Sciences and Department of Internal Medicine

Discussant 2: Kayte Spector-Bagdady, JD, MBioethics, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chief of the Research Ethics Service in the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Dr. Waljee’s research focuses on tailoring treatment to the specifics of the individual (precision care) with gastrointestinal and liver diseases. He uses artificial intelligence methods such as machine learning and deep learning to improve decision-making for tailored and individualized care to facilitate the delivery of efficient, effective and equitable care, especially in costly diseases and in limited resource settings.
Discussant 1: Karandeep Singh, MD, MMSc, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Department of Learning Health Sciences and Department of Internal Medicine

Discussant 2: Kayte Spector-Bagdady, JD, MBioethics, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Chief of the Research Ethics Service in the Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine.

Signaling is governed not only by the expression levels of molecules, but by their localization via mechanisms as diverse as compartmentalization in organelles, phase separation, and directed transport by motor proteins. Cell morphology likely also modulates the localization of signaling molecules, and recent advances in high-resolution light-sheet microscopy, such as lattice light-sheet microscopy, now allow imaging at the spatiotemporal resolution needed to capture the many undulations and quick dynamics of the 3D cell surface. However, these microscopes generate large datasets with detailed 3D movies that are impossible to interpret without a dedicated computational pipeline. In this seminar, I will introduce u-shape3D, a computer graphics and machine-learning pipeline to probe molecular mechanisms underlying 3D cell morphogenesis. U-shape3D includes a generic morphological motif detector that automatically finds lamellipodia, filopodia, blebs and other motifs in order to test the intriguing possibility that morphogenesis itself affects intracellular signaling.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Biosensors are devices or systems that can be used to detect, quantify, and analyze targets with biological activities and functions. As one of the largest subsets of biosensors, biomolecular sensors are specifically developed and programmed to detect, quantify and analyze biomolecules in liquid samples. Wide-ranging applications have made immunoassays increasingly popular for biomolecular detection and quantification. Among these, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are of particular interest due to high specificity and reproducibility. To some extent, ELISA has been regarded as a “gold standard” for quantifying analytes (especially protein analytes) in both clinical diagnostics and fundamental biological research. However, traditional (96-well plate-based) ELISA still suffers from several notable drawbacks, such as long assay time (4–6 hours), lengthy procedures, and large sample/reagent consumption (∼100 μL). These inherent disadvantages still significantly limit traditional ELISA's applicability to areas such as rapid clinical diagnosis of acute diseases (e.g., viral pneumonia, acute organ rejection), and biological research that requires accurate measurements with precious or low abundance samples (e.g., tail vein serum from a mouse). Thus, a bimolecular sensing technology that has high sensitivity, short assay time, and small sample/reagent consumption is still strongly desired. In this dissertation, we introduce the development of a multifunctional and automated optofluidic biosensing platform that can resolve the aforementioned problems. In contrast to conventional plate-based ELISA, our optofluidic ELISA platform utilizes mass-producible polystyrene microfluidic channels with a high surface-to-volume ratio as the immunoassay reactors, which greatly shortens the total assay time. We also developed a low-noise signal amplification protocol and an optical signal quantification system that was optimized for the optofluidic ELISA platform. Our optofluidic ELISA platform provides several attractive features such as small sample/reagent consumption (<8 μL), short total assay time (30-45 min), high sensitivity (~1 pg/mL for most markers), and a broad dynamic range (3-4 orders of magnitude). Using these features, we successfully quantified mouse FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) concentration with a single drop of tail vein serum. We also successfully monitored bladder cancer progression in orthotopic xenografted mice with only <50 μL of mouse urine. More excitingly, we achieved highly-sensitive exosome quantification and multiplexed immuno-profiling with <40 ng/mL of total input protein (per assay). These remarkable milestones could not be achieved with conventional plate-based ELISA but were enabled by our unique optofluidic ELISA.

As an emerging member of the bimolecular sensor family, our optofluidic ELISA platform provides a high-performance and cost-effective tool for a plethora of applications, including endocrinal, cancer animal model, cellular biology, and even forensic science research. In the future, this technology platform can also be renovated for clinical applications such as personalized cancer diagnosis/prognosis and rapid point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Arts at Michigan, ArtsEngine and the Science Learning Center invite you to submit artwork to the 2020 Science as Art exhibition. University of Michigan undergraduate students are invited to submit artwork expressing a scientific principle(s), concept(s), idea(s), process(es), and/or structure(s). The artwork may be visual, literary, musical, video, or performance based. A juried panel using criteria based on both scientific and artistic considerations will choose winning submissions.

Deadline for submissions is Wednesday February 5th!

A number of submissions will be selected for prizes, some of which will be on display and/or performed during the Awards Ceremony and/or displayed in an online Contest Gallery. The entry selected for “Best Overall” will be awarded a cash prize, with smaller cash awards in other categories.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

In today’s research we often talk about knowledge-extraction from Big Data, and integration across different scales: molecules, cells, tissues/organs, organisms and their communities. The pursuit of multi-scale synthesis has a long history. For the microscopic world we have largely succeeded in connecting the chemical properties of molecules with the facts of atoms and their constituents and interactions. In epidemiology, many are currently applying linear mixed models to quantify the genetic contribution of disease risks in the general population. By and large, we live with the tacit belief that basic principles, once found, will be simple and elegant, and that we can build Systems Biology from the ground level. This leads to a pointillistic research culture, as when we try to explain the heredity of complex traits by summing up the individual actions of millions of DNA variants, or when we look for the neural basis of behavior by the connectivity and firing patterns of millions of neurons.
I will use this talk to share some thoughts on the emerging appreciation that, in biomedical data science, perhaps the best one can learn is not widely generalizable Mechanisms, but different laws for different scales of organization. There may not be a good chance, and perhaps no need, to "know" a system by brute force accumulation of larger and larger data at the bottom level. Acknowledging the irreducibility of highly-level phenomena in biology and medicine can help us appreciate the distinct methods, norms, and compromises in traditional disciplines, and steer the society's investment towards balanced collection of good data on all levels. By giving up the blind celebration of sample size, we give more attention to new technologies that can measure what was previously inaccessible, and to the next-generation of information science that embraces messy, context-specific models.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Readings to consider:
1. The Neurobiology of Love
2. The Medicalization of Love
3. Self-Transcendence, the True Self, and Self-Love
4. Love yourself: The relationship of the self with itself in popular self-help texts

For more information and/or to receive a copy of the readings contact Barry Belmont at belmont@umich.edu or visit http://belmont.bme.umich.edu/bioethics-discussion-group/discussions/040-love/.

You might love the blog: https://belmont.bme.umich.edu/incidental-art/

Come join Project RISHI as we admire Indian cuisine in the form of CHAAT! Chaat is a famous street food dish that is served all around India. The money from this fundraiser will go towards social impact and helping rural villages. This event will take place on Tuesday February 11th from 8:30- 9:30pm at 3353 Mason Hall. The entrance fee will be $3! All are welcome to join!

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Biosensors are devices or systems that can be used to detect, quantify, and analyze targets with biological activities and functions. As one of the largest subsets of biosensors, biomolecular sensors are specifically developed and programmed to detect, quantify and analyze biomolecules in liquid samples.

Wide-ranging applications have made immunoassays increasingly popular for biomolecular detection and quantification. Among these, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) are of particular interest due to high specificity and reproducibility. To some extent, ELISA has been regarded as a “gold standard” for quantifying analytes (especially protein analytes) in both clinical diagnostics and fundamental biological research. However, traditional (96-well plate-based) ELISA still suffers from several notable drawbacks, such as long assay time (4–6 hours), lengthy procedures, and large sample/reagent consumption (∼100 μL). These inherent disadvantages still significantly limit traditional ELISA's applicability to areas such as rapid clinical diagnosis of acute diseases (e.g., viral pneumonia, acute organ rejection), and biological research that requires accurate measurements with precious or low abundance samples (e.g., tail vein serum from a mouse). Thus, a bimolecular sensing technology that has high sensitivity, short assay time, and small sample/reagent consumption is still strongly desired.

In this dissertation, we introduce the development of a multifunctional and automated optofluidic biosensing platform that can resolve the aforementioned problems. In contrast to conventional plate-based ELISA, our optofluidic ELISA platform utilizes mass-producible polystyrene microfluidic channels with a high surface-to-volume ratio as the immunoassay reactors, which greatly shortens the total assay time. We also developed a low-noise signal amplification protocol and an optical signal quantification system that was optimized for the optofluidic ELISA platform.

Our optofluidic ELISA platform provides several attractive features such as small sample/reagent consumption (<8 µL), short total assay time (30-45 min), high sensitivity (~1 pg/mL for most markers), and a broad dynamic range (3-4 orders of magnitude). Using these features, we successfully quantified mouse FSH (follicle stimulating hormone) concentration with a single drop of tail vein serum. We also successfully monitored bladder cancer progression in orthotopic xenografted mice with only <50 µL of mouse urine. More excitingly, we achieved highly-sensitive exosome quantification and multiplexed immuno-profiling with <40 ng/mL of total input protein (per assay). These remarkable milestones could not be achieved with conventional plate-based ELISA but were enabled by our unique optofluidic ELISA.

As an emerging member of the bimolecular sensor family, our optofluidic ELISA platform provides a high-performance and cost-effective tool for a plethora of applications, including endocrinal, cancer animal model, cellular biology, and even forensic science research. In the future, this technology platform can also be renovated for clinical applications such as personalized cancer diagnosis/prognosis and rapid point-of-care diagnostics for infectious diseases.

Abstract:
Normal mechanical function of the heart requires that ATP be continuously synthesized at a hydrolysis potential of roughly -60 kJ mol-1. Yet in both the aging and diseased heart the relationships between cardiac work rate and concentrations of ATP, ADP, and inorganic phosphate are altered. Important outstanding questions are: To what extent do changes in metabolite concentrations that occur in aging and heart disease affect metabolic/molecular processes in the myocardium? How are systolic and diastolic functions affected by changes in metabolite concentrations? Does metabolic energy supply represent a limiting factor in determining physiological maximal cardiac power output and exercise capacity? Does the derangement of cardiac energetics that occurs with heart failure cause exercise intolerance?

To answer these questions, we have developed a multi-physics multi-scale model of cardiac energy metabolism and cardiac mechanics that simulates the dependence of myocardial ATP demand on muscle dynamics and the dependence of muscle dynamics on cardiac energetics. Model simulations predict that the maximal rate at which ATP can be synthesized at free energies necessary to drive physiological mechanical function determine maximal heart rate, cardiac output, and cardiac power output in exercise. Furthermore, we find that reductions in cytoplasmic adenine nucleotide, creatine, and phosphate pools that occur with aging impair the myocardial capacity to synthesize ATP at physiological free energy levels, and that the resulting changes to myocardial energetic status play a causal role in contributing to reductions in maximal cardiac power output with aging. Finally, model predictions reveal that reductions in cytoplasmic metabolite pools contribute to energetic dysfunction in heart failure, which in turn contributes to causing systolic dysfunction in heart failure.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

Abstract:
The immune system relies on T cells to distinguish between normal cells and cells altered by infection or cancer. The T cells must integrate signals from their environment in deciding what cells to kill or to spare. This diversity can make determining exactly what is recognized during an immune response extremely challenging. My lab combines protein engineering, combinatorial biology, structural biology and immunology to better understand and then manipulate immune recognition. We aim to find what is recognized during the course of successful immune responses, what antigens should be targeted in treatments and how to better design cell-based immunotherapies.

About the Speaker:
Michael Birnbaum is an assistant professor of biological engineering at MIT. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical and physical biology from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 2014. There, he worked under K. Christopher Garcia and studied the molecular mechanisms of T cell receptor recognition, cross-reactivity and activation. After postdoctoral work in Carla Shatz’s group at Stanford, supported by a Helen Hay Whitney Postdoctoral Fellowship, Professor Birnbaum joined MIT and the Koch Institute in 2016. During his tenure at the Koch Institute, Birnbaum has received the AACR-TESARO Career Development Award for Immuno-oncology Research, a Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, and a V Scholar Grant from the Jimmy V Foundation.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has shown dramatic clinical responses in hematologic malignancies, with a high proportion of durable complete remissions elicited in leukemia and lymphomas. However, achieving the full promise of CAR T-cell therapy, especially in solid tumors, will require further advances in this form of cellular therapy. A key challenge is maintaining a sufficient pool of functional CAR T cells in vivo. We recently developed a strategy to target vaccines to lymph nodes, by linking peptide antigens to albumin-binding phospholipid-polymers. Constitutive trafficking of albumin from blood to lymph makes it ideal chaperone to concentrate these “amphiphile-vaccine” molecules in lymph nodes that would otherwise be rapidly dispersed in the bloodstream following parenteral injection. These lipid-polymer conjugates also exhibit the property that they insert in cell membranes on arrival in lymph nodes. Here, we generated amphiphile CAR T ligand (amph-ligand) vaccine by exploiting these dual lymph node targeting and membrane-decorating properties to repeatedly expand and rejuvenate CAR T cells through the chimeric receptor in native lymph node microenvironment. We evaluated this approach in the presence of a complete host immune system. Amph-ligand vaccine boosting triggered massive CAR T expansion, increased donor cell polyfunctionality, and enhanced anti-tumor efficacy in multiple immunocompetent tumor models. We demonstrate two approaches to generalize this strategy to any CAR, enabling this simple HLA-independent vaccination approach to enhance CAR T functionality to be applied to existing CAR T cell designs. Taken together, our amph-ligand vaccine provides a simple engineering solution to augment CAR T-cell therapy.

Have you ever found yourself putting forth a great deal of effort into your courses, but not feeling like you are actually learning or are left unsatisfied with your grade? This workshop, based on the work of Dr. Saundra Yancy McGuire, will enable you to analyze your current learning strategies, understand exactly what changes you need to implement to earn an A in your courses, identify concrete strategies to use during the remainder of your semester, and become a more efficient learner.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.

UROP sponsors several summer research opportunities designed for University of Michigan undergraduate students seeking an intense research experience in traditional laboratory settings and in the community. These fellowships provide students with the chance to undertake and complete individual research projects; learn firsthand about the life of an academic researcher; think about academic and post graduate careers; and develop strong mentor relationships.